Mui Ne is a cape in Phan Thiet city, a famous tourist center of Binh Thuan province. The name Mui Ne comes from fishermen fishing. “Nose” is the headland leading to the great sea; “Dodge” means a place to avoid thunderstorms. In 2018, Mui Ne was recognized as a national tourist area.
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What season is beautiful in Mui Ne?
Visitors can come to Mui Ne all year round, each season “sea paradise” brings a different beauty. From April to August is the most beautiful time to travel to Mui Ne, at this time the sea water is clear and cool.
August to December, will be suitable for those who like windsurfing and extreme sports because of the time. In December, it can rain, visitors should bring an umbrella if going out.
Transport Mui Ne
From Ho Chi Minh City, visitors can easily move to Mui Ne by motorbike, bus or train.
The backpackers often follow the coastal road. From Ho Chi Minh City, you can follow the direction of Cat Lai ferry, go to Long Thanh and then Ba Ria town, continue in the direction of Ho Tram through Loc An, then follow the coastal road towards Phan Thiet. Total distance is about 230 km.
If you don’t ride a motorbike, you can also go to the Eastern bus station to buy a ticket to Phan Thiet, the travel time is about 5 hours, the ticket price is 130,000 VND per person, depending on the bus operator.
Visitors can also take the SPT1/SPT4 train from Saigon station. Ticket price is 110,000 VND per person, departing in the morning.
From Hanoi, visitors can fly to Ho Chi Minh City and move to Phan Thiet or fly to Cam Ranh, Nha Trang and then catch a car to Mui Ne (nearly 200 km).
After the Dau Giay – Phan Thiet expressway project comes into use (expected to be completed by the end of 2022), it will shorten the time from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet to only about 1.5 hours by car. It is expected that Phan Thiet airport will be put into use in phase 1 from the end of 2022, helping to promote convenient transport connections to Phan Thiet.
Where to play?
Mui Ne is not only an “entertainment paradise” with a beautiful stretch of coastline, it is also famous for many historical sites and rich Champa culture. Here are 10 most famous destinations in Mui Ne, Phan Thiet.
1. Hon Rom
Hon Rom is the name of a small mountain still unspoiled, located in Long Son hamlet, Mui Ne ward, City. Phan Thiet. Visitors should come to Hon Rom in the early morning or late afternoon to watch the sunrise and sunset. This is also an ideal camping spot to campfire at night or watch the moon and stars. The beach cluster in Hon Rom has smooth waves, no reefs and clear blue water, you can ask for directions to Hon Rom 1, Hon Rom 2 or Thuy Trang beach to swim.
2. Pink Sand Dunes
Near Hon Rom is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Mui Ne – Red Sand Dunes. In addition to the long wavy sandy beaches, the color of the sand is also a tourist attraction, there are times when the sand on the hill has 18 different colors. Up the sand hill, you can rent skis, costing about 20,000 VND a plate.
At the foot of the sand hill, there are some fast food and drinks for sale such as: Coconut three times, filter cake, tofu…
3. Hon Ghenh
Hon Ghenh is also known as Hon Lao, this place is about a kilometer from Mui Ne and is still quite pristine. To get to Hon Ghenh, you can rent a fisherman’s boat (200,000 VND per boat for 10 people) or take the shuttle service of the resort or hotel.
Early in the morning, visitors can come here to fish, then go scuba diving to see the coral, and in the evening is the best time to watch the sunset and sunset on the sea.
4. Bau Trang – Bau Sen
Bau Trang – Bau Sen are two natural freshwater lakes located between immense white sand dunes. Coming to Bau Trang in the summer, visitors can admire thousands of lotus flowers blooming in the middle of the white sand dunes.
Bau Trang sand dune is likened to the “sub-Saharan desert” in Vietnam with its vast and unspoiled scenery. Here visitors can rent an off-road vehicle or a Jeep to drive around Bau Trang, the price is about 600,000 VND for 20 minutes.
5. Fairy Stream
Fairy Stream in Mui Ne is called “Fairy Bong Lai” by tourists. Here there is a small creek located next to Hon Rom. Next to the stream are natural red and white stalactite hills with many strange shapes due to the erosion of time.
6. Mui Ne fishing village
Mui Ne fishing village is about 3 km from town. Right at the entrance to the fishing village are hundreds of colorful fishing boats moored. Not far away is a small market with a peaceful pace of life.
Although the fishing village only stretches for about 100 meters along the coast, this is the place where visitors can most clearly see the life of fishermen. If you go to the fishing village early in the morning, you can buy a lot of fresh seafood when the boat has just landed.
7. Duc Thanh School
This is a historical destination you should visit when coming to Mui Ne, Phan Thiet. The school was established in 1907 by patriotic scholars to respond to the Duy Tan movement in Trung Ky. Duc Thanh School is also the place where President Ho Chi Minh stopped to teach before entering Saigon. Today, in Duc Thanh school area, almost intact memorabilia is still preserved
Specialties
1. Seafood Salad
Mui Ne is famous for its fish salad and snail salad. Fish salad is made from fresh apricot, transparent or opaque fish served with raw vegetables, vermicelli and special dipping sauce. The main ingredients are Thai snail meat, pork, vegetables, roasted peanuts, fried onions, mixed with sweet and sour fish sauce.
2. Dishes
The specialty of Mui Ne sand dunes is thunderstorms. Thunderstorm meat is white like chicken but sweeter, more fleshy and tender. A delicious dish is made from thunderstorms such as: grilled dong, rotten dong, steamed dong, dong dong, dong salad, dong congee and rosemary cooked with melon.
3. King Crab
This is a specialty of Tuy Phong, Binh Thuan. Crab meat is sweet, chewy, and fragrant; Crab shell is crispy, soft, can be broken with teeth. King crab in Tuy Phong area is available all year round, but in December of the lunar calendar is the best time for crabs. King crab is usually grilled or steamed with salt, pepper and lemon, but the most delicious is still porridge.
4. Flexible rice paper rolls, rice paper rolls with fish sauce
These are popular snacks in Binh Thuan in general. You can find it at all street vendors, at the intersection of Thu Khoa Huan and Tran Hung Dao only selling in the evening.
5. Hot pot
Hot pot drop is a typical dish in Phan Thiet that many tourists find to eat. The main ingredients are usually apricot leaves, mackerel, herring, opaque fish, red tilapia… cleaned, filleted and cut into thin slices. Vegetables served with hot pot drop are also finely chopped. Hot pot served with dipping sauce made from sour tamarind mixture; Chili fruit, garlic, roasted peanuts, ripe porcelain bananas (many places use soy sauce) puree and then mixed with pure fish sauce.
Hotels, resorts
The rapid development of tourism leads to a variety of accommodation services in Mui Ne. Visitors can choose from affordable homestays to luxury hotels and resorts. The homestays are often far from the sea and serve mainly young people, groups of foreigners who like new experiences, with an average price of 500,000 VND per night.
The motels are often located deep in the nooks and crannies, mainly on Huynh Thuc Khang Street, extending towards Hon Rom. Hotels in Mui Ne are many, concentrated mainly on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, the average price is from 700,000 to 1,000,000 VND per night.
Note
The waves are not too big but they will be stronger than usual, you should look for calm beaches and safe signs to swim.
In the evening at Hon Rom tourist area, there is an afternoon market with many grilled seafood dishes at very affordable prices.
In the evening in Mui Ne, there are many foreign guests, most of them are Russians and Koreans. Some hotels only let foreigners rent cars, so don’t be too surprised.
